It seems to me that the chance to save a person's life is far greater privilege than the chance to reach the summit...any summit.

"Lucky for Hall, Mazur was willing to give up his dream in order to give Hall another chance at life."

Mazur was the
summitclimb.com expedition leader and had previously summited Everest.

The expedition that found Hall and stayed with him consisted of Mazur, Jangbu Sherpa, who'd been to the summit three times already, Englishman Miles Osborne and Canadian Andrew Brash.

So, you should really be crediting Osborne and Brash for giving up their summit dreams (for now) to try and save Hall.

Here's a transcript of a recent interview with Mazur about this:

I read part of this previously when I was writing. Mazur says:

"We feel really lucky that we were able to be involved and a little disappointed that we were not able to get to the top.

Coming back down the ridge, to be honest feelings were of nothing but disapppointment at not making the summit; Everest is a peculiar mountain in that the summit is so highly prized and sought after, that nothing else seems important. This was made abundantly clear to us as two Italians walked by just as we found Lincoln. They increased their pace, moved on by, and said "No speak English." Although one of our compatriots at high camp had had an hour-long chat with them in English the day before.

The following day Lincoln had been brought back to ABC by a massive rescue effort involving several teams. We went over to visit this man of mystery we had found at 8600 metres, in his expedition's medical tent. We reintroduced ourselves and sat there talking about his family and wife. During the conversation, I could not help but wonder, "How in ANY way is a summit more important than saving a life?" And the answer is that it isn't. But in this skewed world up here, sometimes you can be fooled into thinking that it might be. But I know that trying to sleep at night knowing that I summitted Everest and left a guy to die isn't something I ever want to do. The summit's always there after all.

Myles Osborne

more at the link everestnews.com

Perhaps it is also a question of choosing the right leaders and companions. I noticed on the above provided link that another member of the party had also saved a person a week earlier.

In the early hours of the morning we reached the foot of the First Step, the first technical pitch, glad of the warmth it generated to climb it. At this point, Phil decided to turn around; a week or so earlier, he'd saved the life of another climber suffering from cerebral oedema on 18th May by dragging him down from the Second Step at 8600m, getting some frostbite in the process, and to be honest it was astonishing that he had even made it back to this altitude in a week. And during the wee hours of a freezing morning, he made the smart call to turn himself around before he became too badly frostbitten.

The world is a better place for people like Mazur and his team members.

This is truly the definition of blind ambition. I'd rather sleep soundly at night ...I'd like to believe there are more Mazurs in this world --you're just not going to find them on Mt. Everest.

One note re your comment that Krakauer "Krakauer declined to help him [Weathers] to Camp Four" is incorrect.

Krakauer offered to take Weathers with him, but Rob Hall had instructed Weathers to stay where he was and wait for him to return.

As Krakauer pointed out in "Into Thin Air", all the clientes had drilled into them during the aclimitization process the understanding that they were to do what they were told with no exceptions. Hall reinforced this directive the day before the climb.

Unfortunately, the climb was a "Perfect Storm" kind of tragedy - all the accounts tend to agree with this. Pretty much every thing that could go wrong did go wrong. Perhaps Krakauer should have been more insistant with Weathers, but the simple fact is the clientes were following the instructions given to them by the experts.

I think that it's not a matter of "summit at all costs." I think it becomes an "every man for himself" mentality.

More info continues to trickle out regarding Lincoln Hall.

According to Alex Abramov's official report, Lincoln Hall and three Sherpas reached the summit at 9.00 am.

(snip)

At 10:00 the descending Lincoln Hall reached a snow triangle, at 8800 meters. At this point, Sherpas transmitted, Lincoln started to move slowly, and lost his coordination. At 10:30 Lincoln lay down in the snow, and could not move independently any more.

(snip)

Sherpas tried to lower Lincoln Hall for 6 hours, but the climber was also left by the second step after reportedly showing no signs of life for several hours. The next morning, Lincoln was found by a team of climbers including Dan Mazur on summit push. They cared for him until expedition Sherpas reached them and brought Lincoln down.

According to the article I read, Weathers' account of his exchange with Krakauer differs somewhat from Krakauer's account. He felt that Krakauer was reluctant to offer help and that he, himself, should have pushed more.

There are questions about Krakauer's account and that was the reason for the other book, "The Climb."

I should add that I wonder what the sherpas think of all these people, leaving home and their families, paying enormous sums of money to climb Everest, dying, almost dying and leaving others to die just to be somewhere few people have gone before.

These are probably the more intriguing side of the Everest stories that we do not hear in the US.

re: Weathers and Krakauer in 1996, from what I've read their accounts don't differ by much. The expedition leader, Rob Hall, made Weathers promise to stay right where he was until Hall returned from the summit to escort him down, according to both. Krakauer came upon Weathers on his way back down from the summit and talked to him briefly, according to both. The subject of Krakauer assisting Weathers back to camp came up, according to both. According to Weathers, but not mentioned by Krakauer, Krakauer said (truthfully) "I'm not a guide". Weathers was blind from the altitude, and would have to be short-roped down to camp. Neither Krakauer or Weathers had a rope with them, so the point was pretty much moot anyway, and Krakauer headed back to camp while Weathers continued to wait for Hall to return.

Sorry, I don't have a link for this, it's paraphrased from memory from an interview with Weathers I read awhile ago.

I've been searching for the link myself. However, Weathers wrote that he felt that Krakauer was reluctant and that he himself should have pushed (since he was blind).

This, of course, was his impression. Weathers had agreed to wait for Hall who did not come back.

As for having to be short-roped, Weathers ended up crawling on his own after staying out exposed.

Of course, all of this, what Weathers and Krakauer wrote, was with plenty of hindsight.

Here's another interesting essay on the subject, just published today.
To Help or Not to Help, That is the Question by Gary Giss

The author is a doctoral student in health psychology and behavioral medicine, and an instructor of undergraduate psychology and sociology. He has climbed Cho Oyu (26,906 feet), reaching the summit on September 25, 2005, and is an avid mountaineering fan.

I found the source of my information.

While Hill did indeed come perilously close to dying on Everest in 1996, the story of Beck Weathers is perhaps even more striking and poignant. Weathers was nearing the summit on May 10 when, due to a preexisting condition, his eyesight began to fail. Weathers, who was climbing with Krakauer on Hall's New Zealand team, was ordered by Hall to sit down on a balcony above the South Col for a while to see if his vision improved. If it didn't, he was to stay planted where he was and wait for Hall to retrieve him on the way down.

As it turned out, Weathers would sit and shiver on that balcony for several hours, until darkness was descending and conditions on the mountain had turned grim. By then he couldn't move on his own. Later that evening, a guide named Mike Groom would attach himself to Weathers (a procedure called short-roping) and help him further down the mountain. Along with a small group of other climbers, Groom and Weathers became lost on a lower portion of the South Col and couldn't go on. The group huddled together to keep warm, but when Boukreev showed up to help them later in the night, Weathers, along with climber Yasuko Namba, appeared to be dead. (Namba later did die.) Weathers was left behind, and spent a night utterly exposed to the elements. To the astonishment (and deep shame) of many of the climbers on the expedition, he regained consciousness the following morning and staggered into Camp Four.

Earlier, up higher on the mountain, before the bad weather set in, Krakauer had been among those who climbed past Weathers on the balcony. Some of Boukreev's defenders have accused Krakauer of not being completely honest about what transpired between the two. And there are indeed differences between Krakauer's account and a version Weathers later provided.

In "Into Thin Air," Krakauer writes that he implored Weathers to come down to Camp Four with him. "Come with me," Krakauer reports he said. "It will be at least another two or three hours before Rob shows up. I'll be your eyes. I'll get you down, no problem." Krakauer then berates himself for mentioning that Groom would be coming along shortly. Weathers elected to wait for Groom, and Krakauer admits he was secretly relieved. He was worried about being able to drag his own ass down the mountain.

In a taped lecture that Weathers gave not long ago -- a tape that has become a hot bootleg among the anti-Krakauer contingent -- Weathers offers a slightly different, if not entirely irreconcilable, version of this encounter. Here's a relevant excerpt:

It gets to be about 5 o'clock and I see a lone figure coming out of the what is now beginning to be a little bit of blowing snow and a little bit of dropping temperature ... and it's Jon Krakauer. Jon says, "Beck, what are you doing here?" And I tell him my sad little tale. And I said, "Jon, I don't think I can wait any longer. I think Rob's going to have to understand, but it's starting to go south on us. And I'm going to need somebody to act as my eyes. And it's not a big deal. We'll just go a little bit slow ..." And Jon was clearly not happy with this idea. His body language and ... his first reaction was to say, "Beck, I'm not a guide." I said, "I know that, Jon. But I can't see well enough to walk off of this thing." In all credit to Jon, I have no doubt that had I pushed the point with him, he would have done it. But he told me at the same time, you know, Mike Groom is 20 minutes behind. He has a radio. I said, "Not a problem, I'll wait for Mike."

In an interview with Salon, Weathers claims that Krakauer's account doesn't bother him. "There is nothing in Jon's book that offends me. He did say, 'I'm not a guide.' He did not say, 'I'm not a guide so I won't help you down the mountain.' I took it as him saying, 'I have no special skills.'"

He adds: "Anatoli Boukreev certainly did not play a role in getting me off the mountain. The only role he played was stepping over my body."

Krakauer responds by saying, "I don't get why [Boukreev's defenders] are making such a big deal about this. It's just another part of their effort to discredit me." Krakauer says he has no doubt that Weathers' description of his body language is correct, but he says he was more than willing to help him. He adds: "I didn't just tell Beck that I wasn't a guide -- I told him I didn't have any rope. And in order to get him down the mountain, he would have had to be short-roped to another climber. That's what Groom eventually did."

Thanks so much for referencing the essay.

I had thought about the Kitty Genovese case, but that could be because I am taking a psychology class and it does mention her. I think it doesn't only apply to situations of dire consequences.

I was at a party recently for my company. There was one woman who was trying to get food trays out of the boxes and on to the tables. Most people just ignored her although she was a fellow employee. I helped her after setting down my plate. No one else tried to help her. No one tried to help me. They just helped themselves to food and beer.

I don't think it is always a case of thinking to help others on a large scale. I think it begins when people fail to think to help others on a small scale.

I also think it is the dynamics of the group. Mazur was the kind of leader I would want to have and his fellow team members were also altruistic it seems since one had already sacrificed his chance to summit in order to help another.

Hall has 'amazing' memories of ordeal

Everest survivor Lincoln Hall has strong and amazing memories about his ordeal at the top of the world's highest mountain, a close friend says.

Mr Hall is in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, recovering from cerebral oedema and pulmonary oedema, and is also being treated for frost bite and a chest infection.

The climber was declared dead last Thursday after becoming disoriented from the effects of cerebral oedema on his way down from Everest's summit, but was found alive the next day.

His friend Simon Balderstone, who has travelled to Kathmandu with Mr Hall's wife Barbara Scanlan, said the 50-year-old climber had a remarkable tale to tell.

Asked if Mr Hall could remember much, he said: "Ooh, yeah, it's a pretty amazing story".

But the sale of it is still being negotiated, Mr Balderstone said.

more



A picture of Hall shortly after they found him, after they got his coat done up and put a hat and one glove on.

So Hall is already planning to write a book? That'll be interesting to read.

"So, there I was, rowing a boat in the middle of the ocean, and these orange balloon people showed up, and..."

I'll probably buy it anyway though :-)

LA Times

Good summary, imho. Couple of things, that I'm quoting here, that I hadn't seen yet.

(snips)

At one point, Inglis had a long fall and broke one of his prosthetic legs, which he repaired with duct tape.



Though details are unclear, Sharp had become separated from teammate Vitor Negrete of Brazil. Negrete, in a solo attempt, reached the summit three days after Sharp's death but became ill and was unable to make a descent. After being taken to one of the high camps by a sherpa, he also died.

{I saw some other news about Negrete having had one of his high camps looted, I'll see if I can find that link later - A C E}




Jan Arnold, widow of climber-guide Rob Hall, who was among nine mountaineers who perished in one day during a freak storm that swept through the Death Zone in 1996, told a New Zealand news program that it was wrong to point fingers.

"When you're up there and can barely breathe, you can't eat, you can barely drink -- all you can really do is plod on upwards with this one thing in mind," said Arnold, who has climbed to Everest's summit. "What it would involve to launch a rescue would almost be beyond the brain capacity of a person at high altitude."


more

when are you boys ever going to grow up and act like grown men. to try and make an excuse for leaving another man to die reminds me of my little boys...it isn't my fault...really!...honest dad!

Some small points re Krakauer's and Weather's accounts (and thanks to the clarifications by P. Tigress and A.C. Enthusiast).

One thing interesting is Krakauer's account that Weathers elected to stay because he knew Groom had a rope. (Krakauer's mention of not having the rope in the interview quoted above seems to be referencing it after the fact - in his book he did not say he said this to Weathers, but instead Weathers made the observation.)

Also, Hutchinson, Tasky and Kashinsky (sp) had passed Weathers earlier, as well, and continued on without Weathers, as he elected to obey the directive from Hall to stay put.

A few things stick out - one, hypoxia needs to be taken into account when we review the accounts of all involved. I don't think it is a case of determining whom to believe so much as making sense of the accounts from different POVs.

Also, the understanding by clientes that they were to do as they were told plays into this. Krakauer remarks earlier in the account how he and, I believe, Adams, seeing Andy Harris having difficulty below the summit, believed Harris when he said there was no oxygen in the tanks that were stored there. It was, I believe, Groom, who actually tested the cannisters and realized Harris had made a mistake.

Again, my point is not to suggest Krakauer was some sort of angel, or that he didn't make a number of mistakes that contributed to the confusion (obviously, the mistaking of Adams for Harris was a major blunder for which he has recieved a great deal of criticism, perhaps some of it valid) nor to defend his narrative, which on the whole remains a bang-up job of reporting, but only to underscore the point that he did not refuse to aid Weathers, as his critics would suggest, but by his own admission, he privately did not want to and was relieved to not have to when the decision was made to wait for Groom.

One last observation: Weathers tells us that he could tell by Krakauer's body language that the writer did not want to take him down. But Weathers was effectively blind, by his own admission. How could he have made such an observation of someone bundled in thick, heavy garments that effectively mask body language even to someone with good eyesite?

Again, this is not to discredit Weathers, but only to underscore that the accounts all need to be taken with a grain of salt

I also recently read the account of the sherpa , Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa, who felt he was unjustly criticized in Krakauer's book and Krakauer's reply.

I have to cringe at the dialogue that Krakauer's letter uses for two reason. The difference in the language between Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa's letter and that as a bilingual person who has been interviewed in a foreign language and interviewed in a foreign language, I know that it is always questionable to interview anyone in a foreign language, particularly when it is readily apparent that person isn't fluent.

...to all my questions Lopsang simply replied, near tears, "I am very bad luck, very bad luck. Scott is dead; it is my fault. I am very bad luck. It is my fault. I am very bad luck." It wasn't until July 25, when I had the opportunity to speak with Lopsang face to face for four hours in Seattle, that I heard his version of the tragedy in detail. And by that time my article had already gone to press.

I came to Seattle to attend Scott Fischer's memorial service and stayed there throughout the summer. Jon didn't interview me until after he had already written and submitted his "Thin Air" piece. As a result many false and negative allegations were made against my group, led by Scott Fischer concerning the disaster that occurred on Everest on May 10, 1996. In particular, I was singled out as contributing to these tragic events. Krakauer's reputation as an outstanding writer makes his slanderous view of my character and work habits very damaging. Because your readers have been misinformed, I would like to clear up these errors.

Tigress,
Are you a mountain climber?

Here's that link, re: Negrete's high camp being looted, which may well have contributed to his death on Everest. I don't know if this affected Sharp as well. Maybe we'll never know that.

Brazilian Vitor Negrete lost on Everest after a no O2 summit

(snip)

In addition, someone has emptied a cache left by the Brazilians in C2, containing gear and food.

Lucky enough, Vitor and the Sherpa climbing with him were helped out by other climbers, who let them a place in a tent and food enough for the night.

"All these events have affected me deeply - I even considered calling the attempt off," said Vitor. "However, Ravi told me to reach the summit for him. Tomorrow I'll go to C3. The plan is to reach the place by noon, rest for some hours and then set off for the summit by 9:00 pm. At C3 we have left another cache with food and gear - I hope we can find that one intact. Otherwise the summit bid will be seriously jeopardized."

This was only the latest in a number of thefts reported by strong, independent climbers on the mountain. Only last week, Simone Moro reported having his cache stolen on Everest south side.

Last year, young Polish climber Marcin Miotk found several of his camps emptied in his lone climb of the mountain late in the season. Like the Brazilians, the unguided climber ascended without supplementary oxygen and his life was jeopardized by the thefts.

I have read where 1 in 10 people who climb Everest, die there. Those are stiff odds.

Who was the young Swede who rode his bicycle to Everest, hauled his own gear up to base camp and summitted Everest sans oxygen, came off the mountain hopped on his bike and rode back to Sweden? Goran Kropp. His book Ultimate High is available at Amazon, read the comments there... it's a fasinating tale about a fasinating climber/adventurer.

I read about the Brazilian and the looting. Pretty sad, don't you think?

MCH, I'm not a mountain climber. I used to be a sports writer.

I take other kinds of risks but in a warmer and more social setting. I probably do not have the optimal body type for that kind of sport because carrying more than 10 lbs. of gear and food on my back is not considered wise since I only weigh a little over 90 lbs. and have no fat to keep me warm.

If I could hike with an alpaca or llama, however, that's something I'd like to do.

Joey, prior to 1980 the ratio for Everest was about 1 death for every 3 successful summits. In 2006 there were 10 confirmed deaths, 4 people still missing and unaccounted for, likely dead, and from what I've read between 400 and 500 successful summits. So, depending which of those numbers you crunch, worst case scenario this years ratio was 400/14, or 28 summits for each death, and best case is 500 / 10, or 50 summits for each death. Even the worst of those two ratios is quite a lot better than it used to be.

All-time ratio is (roughly) 3000 summits divided by (roughly) 200 deaths, or 15 summits per death on Mount Everest.

As the Everest ratio has consistently been getting better, though, some other 8000+ meter peaks such as Annapurna and Manaslo to this day still have a roughly 5 summits to 2 deaths ratio, and they get far fewer of the 'rich adventure tourist' type climber, who generally prefer Everest because it is THE highest on the planet. Also, as a trophy summit, if you tell some non climbing enthusiast "I summited Everest" they'll likely know what you mean and say something like "Wow, that's so cool" whereas if you told them "I summited Manaslo" they might reply "Uh, what? Is that a mountain?"

Holy cow! Breaking news, re: David Sharp. A large Discovery Channel expedition talked to him and filmed him as he struggled in the Death Zone. If I read this right, of the 42 people who passed Sharp up there, *over half* were with the Discovery Channel expedition, and they knew he was struggling up there before they left high camp even.

"My name is David Sharp and I am with Asian Trekking"

EverestNews.com has been informed from a member on the Russell Brice (Himex) expedition that David Sharp was seen talking and was alive and lucid enough to state to least one of those climbers, "My name is David Sharp and I am with Asian Trekking".

This occurred several hours after Sharp had been pronounced "effectively dead" and as the climbers who had passed Sharp on their way up to the summit again encountered him on their descent.

To add more astonishing news to the story, the Brice (Himex) expedition member also divulged that film crew members of the Brice (Himex) team had taped footage of Sharp alive and speaking to them on May 15th. Helmet cams reportedly worn by Sherpas supporting the Brice (Himex) team and their Discovery filming project were sending a live signal to advance base camp where the producers watched the grim drama unfold in real time. Tigress Productions, the company commissioned to produce a documentary series for Discovery, has confirmed to EverestNews.com that they do in fact have film of Sharp while he struggled for his life on May 15th.

(snip)

A press release from the production company before the expedition stated,

"An 18-member crew will follow 11 climbers and their Sherpa guides for the 6x1-hour series, tentatively titled Everest: No Experience Required. It will air on Discovery channels in the U.S. and the U.K. this year"

(snip)

Various climbers have encouraged us to publish this story and call for the unedited release of the film so the family and the world can judge.

(snip)

We asked Dick Colthurst, producer for Tigress Productions, if David Sharp would be in the TV Series, Dick said, "It is going to be hard to ignore".

I found this, re: all the various teams that were on Everest, at various points in their ascent attempts, around the time the Sharp and Hall incidents occurred. It was really really crowded this year, relatively. Busiest year ever, I think.

Scroll down to
Links to teams on Everest North:
and
Links to teams on Everest South:

There's something incredibly chilling about this statement:

We asked Dick Colthurst, producer for Tigress Productions, if David Sharp would be in the TV Series, Dick said, "It is going to be hard to ignore".

People were able to ignore Sharp enough to leave him for dead.

I suppose this brings up the old debate about journalism and photojournalism and broadcast journalism: Do you remain an objective bystander reporting the situation or do you attempt to save a life?

Wasn't there also a filming crew that helped with the 1996 disaster on Everest?

"Wasn't there also a filming crew that helped with the 1996 disaster on Everest?"

Yes, there was an IMAX team up there shooting their film, 'Everest'. They were at camp 2 when all the drama near the summit happened, but they did what they could to help, and went up the next day and helped save Beck Weathers and Makalu Gau.classic.mountainzone.com

(snip)

They retreated to Camp II just as other expeditions, including Rob Hall's and Scott Fischer's guided parties, moved up to the high camp.

"The weather just wasn't what we were waiting for," said Viesturs, "so we retreated. We met Rob and Scott and their clients as we went down, and wondered if we were making a mistake by retreating, but it seemed to David and me the right decision."

(snip)

"Radio communications were bad from Camp II where we were," said Viesturs, "but we managed to get word to Jon Krakauer at Camp IV to break into our IMAX tents at the South Col and use whatever oxygen, radio batteries and other items the survivors might need. It was a real nightmare up there."

Last night, Nightline had a feature about "Death and Survival on Everest."

I was surprised to learn that Inglis had lost his legs as a result of being trapped for 14 days on a mountain and the resulting rescue, according to "Nightline" put rescuers at peril and that some of them almost died. According to Yahoo! News during a helicopter rescue attempt, the helicopter crashed and those crew members were lucky to survive.

Inglis lost both legs to frostbite which seems like a lot compared to Weathers.

It's disappointing that someone could be alive as a result of people putting their lives at risk and yet not feel the same way when he has a chance to rescue a person.

I don't think it's right to single out Inglis for blame about Sharp. After all, his team *did* try and help Sharp more than any of the other climbers up there at the time. You should also remember he was climbing on two prosthetic legs, one of which was being held together by duct tape after breaking in a fall lower down the mountain. Inglis wasn't in any shape to rescue anyone.

Dawa Sherpa was climbing up with the group that Inglis was in, and stopped climbing to try and help Sharp. He tried.

Jamie McGuiness about David Sharp: "Crying, Dawa had to leave him"

Here's Jamie's testimony of the nights David and Vitor died:

"Dawa from Arun Treks also gave oxygen to David and tried to help him move, repeatedly, for perhaps an hour. But he could not get David to stand alone or even stand resting on his shoulders, and crying, Dawa had to leave him too. Even with two Sherpas it was not going to be possible to get David down the tricky sections below."

"Dawa, who did not summit because of giving his oxygen to David, told this to me less than 24 hours later when I met him on the fixed ropes. He was close to tears even then."

The best chance to rescue David Sharp would have been on the night of the 14th, when energetic ascending parties with ample oxygen crossed him. However, he may not have appeared to be stricken then, and in any event he was only about 100m and a few glissades away from high camp.

On the 15th, rescue was probably too difficult for descending teams with limited oxygen - but still within reach for an ascending rescue team with oxygen, dex, and perhaps some hot fluids. The best chances probably lay with the Himex team.

Latest update on this, blame from those who were on Everest at the time seems to be focussing on Russell Brice for telling climbers to ignore Sharp, Brice denies it:

Russell Brice contradicts his expedition climbers' reports

02:45 am EST Jun 13, 2006
In a recent press release, close to one month after David Sharp's death, Russell Brice contradicts his expedition climbers' earlier reports to media. Meanwhile, more of the world's best climbers (latest American top climber Ed Viesturs, check below) have made statements about the feasibility to make rescues high up.

Russell Brice, and several of his supporters have also repeatedly reported on Brice's contributions in Everest rescues, but failed to mention when Russell's own guides and climbers have been helped high up - in one instance by three climbers who gave up their summit to save two Himex members lives.

MUCH more at the link.

Here's a recent interview with Lincoln Hall and Dan Mazur on the Today Show.

MSN Video
Search for "Mazur" to quickly find the video.

I'm finding this sort of fascination, like a smaller, less tragic version of the 1996 tragedy or an icy Rashomon. The psychological aspects cannot be ignored because obviously there are contradictions being made.

I saw an interview with Mazur and have nothing but admiration for him. I'm sure this will become something of a parable about the nature of self-sacrifice and being a good samaritan.

I wonder about the Italians that Mazur references. Are the Italian newspapers, etc. interviewing them?

Here's a fascinating recounting of another rescue from near the 3rd step in the Death Zone on Everest, in 2001. This was after their team had already helped save three russians lower down the very same day. Quite a day to remember, even without summiting.

A snip:

,,,both were pitifully unable to walk. Without choices, we simply gave them a little more of everything and kept trying to get them to rally. After a time, Tap and Jason had Andy moving. But it took both of them to support him and keep his feet going in the right directions. That left me and Jaime and my emotions.

I decided then that I'd been wrong about emotions in the "death zone." Everybody probably should have a set. The fact that Jaime was devoid of them struck me as just plain wrong and I set about changing that.

"Jaime, you have a family, don't you?" He cheerfully replied, "Oh yes, my wife is pregnant." My big brainstorm had backfired. I was choking up again and Jaime was merely happy to have his attention diverted to warm, fuzzy thoughts from the cold hell of the Third Step.

"You want to see them again, don't you?" "Oh yes!" So I started trying to shock him with "Then you better start walking. You HAVE to survive this." But I just got back a cheerful, "Oh, yes."

Even so...

Himex climber in NZ interview: Russell Brice and team Doctor advised to continue Everest ascent

(snip)

Rob concludes about Russell Brice's press release, "this is so at odds with the information that has come out previously that it almost defies belief. As much as I try not to, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that someone is telling porkies."

more...

I may be just talking to myself at this point, since I don't know if anyone is reading this thread anymore, but here goes anyway.

There's some controversy developing now over the death of Thomas Weber high on Everest, near where Lincoln Hall was rescued from, and around the same time. Some other climbers are now pointing the finger at Weber's guide, Harry Kikstra, for not turning Weber around from ascending earlier than he did, and for not doing more to help Weber, such as administering Dexamethasone when it became apparent that Weber was suffering from HACE (high altitude cerebral edema).

You can read more about it here.

Mark Inglis changes his story, re: David Sharp

mounteverest.net

(snip)
But weeks later, close to one month after the incident, Himex expedition leader Russell Brice issued a press release denying knowledge about David Sharp until his team's descent.

Now Mark Inglis is backing off his that they had radioed Russell. In a statement to The Associated Press Thursday Mark said the cold, strain and lack of oxygen might have caused him to mix up the details.

"I was sure that I heard radio traffic at the time," he wrote. "I also thought I had called myself and received a reply, but like all things in that early part of the day my focus was on my hands and the challenges to come...that combined with the difficulties with the oxygen mask meant that I may be mistaken," Inglis wrote, saying his "recollection is unclear."


also
everestnews.com

"I wonder about the Italians that Mazur references. Are the Italian newspapers, etc. interviewing them?" - PT

www.mounteverest.net/news
There's their debrief. Interesting reading.

I think that Mazor and his team did a good thing.

Look people, climbing Everest is a feat that very few people even consider attempting let alone complete for many reasons. Price being a big part of it but more over it is extremely dangerous. There are a few things one must understand and accept before climbing a mountain like Everest, first on that list is knowing how dangerous it is and secondly knowing you might not come back. It is my opinion that no one first of all has any room to talk about who should have done what and how they should have done it if you weren't there. It's easy to sit there in front of your computers in the warmth of your home and type words of heroism and how others should have done more to help those in need. In those conditions at that altitude and in an extremely fatigued condition you are basically on your own, and you should know that long before you get on that plane. It's like military service (which I did for 4 1/2 years honorably) and hearing these kids who join because they want money for college or just aren't sure what they want to do with their lives and sign up. Then when they out of nowhere have to ship out somewhere they freak out and cry to the media or run off to Canada to hide. If thats the case you have no business signing up in the first place. Just like Everest, people need to realize that if things get hairy up there (and they do) your probably gonna be on your own. There's no big rescue team that's gonna fly in and save you at over 29,000'. So as unfortunate as it is that people die up there, it just part of it. I myself am an avid outdoorsman and have been in my fair share of close calls. But in the end have luckily been able to avert disaster because of quick thinking or training. Most of the wealthy "I wanna challenge myself" knuckleheads paying to climb Everest have no business even being on the mountain. They have little to no mountain type training and in my opinion again basically asked for it. There is a fine line between being a "hero" attempting to save another life and becoming dead yourself and at 29,035'.

Josh #44

Just like any person in the army. You kill because you're told to kill, without thinking twice. Same applies here. I guess having a Canadian in the group that saved this guy was a blessing

Hmmm..."There is a fine line between being a hero attempting to save another life and becoming dead yourself and at 29,035"...is an interesting comment from someone who was in the military.

Don't they give purple hearts to dead people?

No matter how tired one is or what altitude, etc., when one sees a person in trouble one has a choice.

To have so many people pass by a dying man or a man who could have possibly been saved is a great shame.

There are many times when one can be said to be on one's own: in the aftermath of an earthquake, flood or other natural disaster or during a man-made disaster such as war.

Everyone is in his or her armchair until the time comes to make a choice. It's hard to say who will choose to help a truck driver being beat up during a riot, or a woman being raped or a person escaping genocide or a person on a mountain top.

I think most people on some level face such choices during their lifetimes. Lucky for us, in most cases it won't directly be a life or death decision.


Sir Edmund Hillary was critical of what happened to Sharp. Surely he knows something about heroics and climbing. Dan Mazur said: "The summit is still there and we can go back. Lincoln only has one life."